AKA: 屋根裏のラジャー ; Yaneura no Raja ("Rudger in the Attic")

Genre: Fantasy

Length: Movie, 109 minutes

Distributor: Currently available streaming on Netflix.

Content Rating: PG (Death(?), mature themes.)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Napping Princess; The Wonderland

Notes: Based on novel "The Imaginary", by A. F. Harrold (2014) Screenplay by Yoshiaki Nishimura, Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose

Rating:

The Imaginary

Synopsis

Rudger is the imaginary playmate of a girl named Amanda. When Rudger is attacked by a strange man (who CAN see him), Amanda is seriously injured trying to save him. Rudger's very existence is now under threat, not just by "Mr. Bunting" and his spectral female assistant, but also because Imaginaries can only continue existing as long as they're remembered by a real person- and Amanda's whereabouts (and condition) are unknown.

Review

This is the first Studio Ponoc production I've seen since Modest Heroes- a quick search revealed they also did Mary and the Witch's Flower, which I missed. I'm gathering that they're now into kid/family-friendly shows, and something like the children's book this is based on is right up their alley. (Since it was a children's book, even the character names are whimsical; Amanda and her mom Lizzie's last names are Shuffleup, while mom's maiden name is Downbeat. Dad, alas, did not make it to this story.)

There is much here that recalled the first Disney/Pixar Inside-Out, in particular the imaginary friend there, Bingbong: the loyalty that imaginary friends have to their creators; the dire consequences they face when those creators forget them; and maybe the joy of rediscovery, when those unseen companions of youth are recalled. At one point, Rudger fears he'll just disappear, but he's led to a whole group of Imaginaries existing without their creators; the trick is, they have to "work" to continue to exist, which means they have to take roles in the dreaming imaginations of other children. Sometimes- by adapting themselves to the visage the child prefers- the gigs become permanent. They tend to inhabit libraries, because where else is the Imagination more honored? (On the other hand, in some poignant scenes we find that the memories of Imaginaries themselves are much more ephemeral than the memories of their creators; Rudger is apparently an exception, but I'd guess it's because he's still attached to a human- whether he realizes she's still there or not.)

Our villain, Mr. Bunting, literally feeds on Imaginaries, gaining from them the power to trap them in scenarios of his own invention. (He's so terrifying to the other Imaginaries that they regard him as a kind of bogeyman, and refuse to even accept the possibility he's real.) I would have appreciated a bit more backstory on this guy, as well as some on his "assistant", who seems modeled on the ghost girl from The Ring, and who never says a word (but is incredibly quick, and strong).

The usual random observations:

-Imaginaries apparently can't cross physical barriers like closed doors or walls. Not quite sure how the physics (or metaphysics, whichever applies) works here.

-Don't let the scary appearance of that cat, named Zinzan, fool you.

-I never really understood why Rudger, who's normally inseparable from Amanda, didn't try harder to stay with her in the first place. Much subsequent trouble could have been avoided. (Of course, so would much of the plot.)

-I liked Amanda's room quite a bit. It's cluttered with all manner of things that could (and did) serve as starting points for her Flights of Fancy with Rudger.

-While I wasn't that crazy about the Imaginaries' "party song", the beauty of the closing song makes up for it.

Full disclosure: the Reviewer (so far as HE can remember) never had an imaginary friend; though if this movie (and Inside-Out too) are correct, they can be more loyal than REAL ones; both movies also make the case that they're willing to come to your aid AGAIN, no matter how many years of separation exist between you. Absolutely charming. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Netflix rates PG. Characters are imperiled, there's reference to a family death, and an Imaginary also tragically perishes.